Day 713: Trump claims he ‘essentially’ fired Mattis, who actually resigned

Donald Trump is trying to pull off a classic movie cliché in real life: the “you can’t quit because you’re fired!” move.

The target: former Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Mattis was once frequently and belittingly referred to as one of “my generals” by Trump. But the retired Marine Corps general eventually fell out of favor with Trump and was largely ignored. After Trump announced he would pull American troops out of Syria and let American allies continue to fight ISIS alone, Mattis resigned in protest and sharply rebuked Trump and Trumpism on the way out the door.

Apparently ignoring Mattis’ resignation letter — yet again — Trump laughably told reporters that he “essentially” fired Mattis over his failure to make progress in Afghanistan.

Trump is known to cower away and make others do the difficult task of firing people. Of course he didn’t fire Mattis, but Trump is trying to spin it in a way to make himself look powerful instead of being spurned by a Cabinet member. Ironically, Trump made himself look as small ever.

713 days in, 749 to go

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